Lily suffers cuts, bruises and a concussion severe enough to render her unconscious, but tells herself that “all humans make mistakes” and that “everyone deserves another chance.” The first two incidents of abuse occur in “heat of the moment” scenarios in which Ryle loses his temper. This is, of course, a tired cliché that’s too often applied to abusive men. Though cocky and manipulative from the start, Ryle is portrayed as a man who desperately wants to be good but is tormented by inner demons. Readers who ask, “Why would she stay with him?” may find some insight in this book. Hoover offers a compelling perspective on how the violation and blurring of boundaries over time creates a dynamic in which victims lose the ability to see their situations clearly. Both halves of the couple are, understandably, haunted by their pasts.Įarly in their marriage, Ryle begins to physically abuse Lily. Both had traumatic childhoods: Lily grew up witnessing her father physically and sexually abuse her mother and was eventually victimized by him herself when Ryle was 6 years old, he accidentally shot and killed his beloved older brother with a gun that should never have been accessible.

Lily is a successful entrepreneur, and Ryle is a gifted neurosurgeon. The novel centers on the relationship between Lily and Ryle, a young newlywed couple who live in Boston. The quote on the cover of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, It Ends With Us, claims, “Every person with a heartbeat should read this book.” It was the sixth best-selling book of 2021, BookTok is going nuts over it and USA Today called it “ the kind of book that gets handed down.” Its much-anticipated sequel, It Starts with Us, is set to be released next month. Content warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of rape and sexual assault.

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